


Yanagi Renji and the Case of the Missing Stone

by muzivitch



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-02-29
Updated: 2008-02-29
Packaged: 2017-10-18 10:27:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/187943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muzivitch/pseuds/muzivitch





	Yanagi Renji and the Case of the Missing Stone

_**[Fic] Yanagi Renji and the Case of the Missing Stone | Yanagi, Kirihara. G**_  
Title: Yanagi Renji and the Case of the Missing Stone  
Author: Muzy [[](http://muzivitch.livejournal.com/profile)[ **muzivitch**](http://muzivitch.livejournal.com/) ]  
Series: Prince of Tennis  
Characters: Yanagi, Kirihara  
Rating: G  
Length: 1450 words

"Yanagi-senpai, I have a problem."

Renji lifted his eyebrows and swallowed the iced green tea just sipped when Kirihara had bounded towards him and plopped by his side. So far, he mused, it was shaping up to be a typical day - he got up, he went to school, he went to lunch, Akaya came to him with some kind of problem. All in all, the marks of the average day in the life of Yanagi Renji. He set down his can of tea. "What is the problem, Akaya?"

"It's fukubuchou," Kirihara explained. "He..."

"Yes?"

"He accused me of stealing his dumb rock."

Renji tipped his head to side. " _Did_ you steal the Sanada family stone?" he asked.

Kirihara snorted derisively. "What would I do with it?" he asked. "It's a stupid rock."

Renji could think of a number of things Akaya would think of doing with the Sanada family stone, starting with painting pink and purple flowers on it and ending with hiding it in Renji's own rock garden, but he didn't think it was prudent to mention any of that. "Did you steal it?" he asked again.

Kirihara crossed his arms over his chest and hunched his shoulders. "No," he said. "I didn't think of it."

Renji disguised a chuckle with a cough, and glanced over at Kirihara. "But Sanada is sure you did."

"Yeah. He's going to make me run laps. And then supervise swing practice." Kirihara turned pleading green eyes on Renji. "You have help me, Yanagi-senpai. If I have to supervise the first years, Shiita will drive me INSANE."

That was highly likely, Renji thought. Also, he didn't want to explain to their nominal club advisor why Urayama was running around the courts screaming like a banshee again (explanations to authority figures always, inexplicably, fell to him), so assisting Akaya was a benefit to everybody, really. It was practically a civic duty. "I'll speak to Sanada," he said.

Kirihara blew out a relieved breath. "Thanks, Yanagi-senpai," he said. He peeked up at Renji. "Who d'you think did it?"

Renji smiled as he ruffled his fingers over Akaya's windblown black curls. "I don't know yet," he said. "I'll have to examine the evidence. And then narrow them down to those who had opportunity and motive."

Kirihara's brow furrowed. "Like Detective Conan?" he asked.

Yanagi inclined his head. He'd been thinking more along lines of Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot, but Detective Conan worked. "Just like that," he said. "You should hurry up now," he added. "You'll get detention if you're tardy again, and I'll need your help at practice today."

Kirihara scrunched up his nose and blinked. "You will?"

"Definitely. If I'm a detective, I need a sidekick."

"Oh." Kirihara grinned. "Thanks, Yanagi-senpai."

"Class, Akaya."

"Going!"

After Kirihara was gone, Renji leaned back on his hands and tipped his head up towards the sun. A sideline in private investigations hadn't exactly been on his agenda, he thought with a half-smile.

Oh well. He'd been bored lately anyway.

*

"I don't see the point of this," Sanada grumbled, yanking his black baseball cap lower over his eyes. "We all know Kirihara's the only one devious enough to do something like this."

Renji lifted his eyebrows. He could think of at least three other club members who might be inclined to steal the Sanada Family Stone, and that was just on the regulars and off the top of his head. "Humor me," he stated. "When did you last have it in your possession?"

Sanada sighed. "It was in my bag when I got to practice yesterday. It wasn't there when I got back."

"What makes you think Akaya's the culprit?"

Sanada gave Renji a level look, and Renji's lips quirked slightly. "Beyond that."

Sanada shrugged. "I saw him head into the locker room during practice. He said to get water, but he could have grabbed it while he was in there."

"Was Akaya the only person to go back into the locker room yesterday?" Renji asked mildly.

"No."

"And did you find it in his bag?"

"...No. But he could have stolen it."

"Certainly," Renji murmured. "Nonetheless," he continued, skimming his eyes over the tennis courts, over the regulars practice and then the non-regulars, and finally the first years working on conditioning, "I think it might be wise to postpone Akaya's punishment until we prove one way or another that he's the culprit. No need to traumatize the first years unduly, after all."

Sanada blew out a breath. "You have a point," he said. "But, Renji."

"Yes?"

"I want the stone back."

"Naturally," Renji replied. "I'm working on it."

*

According to his notes, Renji noted that evening, he had four suspects, including Kirihara himself. There was Niou, who had gone into the locker room a couple of minutes after Kirihara, and there were two non-regulars. Deguchi Minoru was a second-year, clever player, who was known to be bitter about the fact that Akaya was a regular and he wasn't - there was motive there, because Deguchi tried to get Akaya into trouble almost as much as Akaya got into it on his own.

And then there was Urayama Shiita. Opportunity in spades - the kid was always running in and out on errands for pretty much everyone else in the club - but not so much motive. Shiita idolized all the regulars, but especially Sanada and Yukimura, and wouldn't think of doing something guaranteed to set Sanada off the way this did.

Still, Renji thought, something was nagging at him.

"I think its Deguchi," Kirihara said, and Renji glanced up. "Just think about it. It's totally the kind of trick he'd pull to get me in trouble."

"Hmm," Renji said noncommitally.

"Could be Niou, of course," Akaya continued. "It's definitely HIS style too."

"It's not Niou," Renji replied.

"How do you know?"

"I have my ways," Renji said, and Kirihara supressed a shudder. He liked Yanagi-senpai a lot, he thought. He listened in a way that nobody else did, and he was the only one in the club that believed him when he said he didn't do it. But sometimes he really could creep him out. "So it has to be Deguchi or Shiita, and Shiita doesn't have the brains or inclination to pull this off."

"Hmm," Renji said again. "I think I will pay one of our suspects a visit this evening."

"Seriously?" Kirihara practically bounced on his floor cushion.

"Seriously," Renji stated. "And we'll see if my theory is correct."

"What's your theory?"

"You'll see."

*

"Shiita's?" Kirihara hissed as they walked through the gate of a very typical Japanese home in a very typical neighborhood. "Yanagi-senpai, come on. This is a waste of time."

Renji smiled slightly. "I don't think so, Akaya."

"But he follows fukubuchou around like a puppy. Well, when fukubuchou lets him get away with it."

"Precisely," Renji said as he pressed the doorbell firmly.

"Huh?"

"The thing about motives," Renji stated as they listened to the sound of footsteps coming towards the door, "is that they are not always what they seem." He smiled as the door opened. "Hello, Urayama-san. I'm Yanagi Renji, one of Shiita-kun's senpais. Is he in?"

*

Sanada's incredulous voice echoed across the tennis courts the next morning. "He was _cleaning_ it?" he asked. " _Cleaning_ it?"

"That seems to be the case," Renji said mildly. "Under the circumstances, I think it would be best to cancel Akaya's punishment, don't you think?"

Sanada sighed. "It was bound to be a disaster anyway." His eyes skimmed the regulars before landing on his chosen victim. "Yagyuu. Supervise the first years," he said before dropping the stone back into his bag where it belonged and stalking across the court.

"Excellent job, Renji," murmured a voice close by, and Renji inclined his head at Yukimura.

"Thank you, Seiichi."

"Are you thinking of taking up detective work as a permanent sideline?"

Renji let his gaze coast over the morning practice scene - first the first years diligently practicing their swings under Yagyuu's annoyed directions, then at Marui and Kirihara and Jackal poking at the upper-level non-regulars, then to Niou, who was doing nothing and was thus at his most dangerous. "If it becomes a necessity," he said slowly, "but not on a regular basis."

"No?"

Renji's lips lifted into a slight smile, and he gave the captain a sidelong glance. "No," he said. "I think I have plenty to handle without adding amateur investigations to the pile."


End file.
